Why You Should Stop Crash Dieting

Crash diets are designed to help lose weight fast. They’re often a lot more extreme when it comes to limiting what you can eat – this may include eating miniscule portions to the point of starvation or living off vegetable smoothies. Whilst people can lose weight short-term by crash dieting, it’s not always a healthy or an effective option in the long run. Here are some reasons why you should say no to crash dieting and what you should do instead.

Crash diets make it easier to gain weight afterward

The major problem with crash diets is that they’re a temporary measure. The dietary restrictions are so severe that no-one would ever want to take them on as a permanent diet. As soon as people reach their goals, they often immediately return to their old diet, at which point the pounds pile back on. This results in yo-yo dieting, which isn’t healthy for the body.

Worse still, crash dieting actually improves our body’s ability to store fat. This is because crash dieting puts our body into starvation mode. When starved, our body looks for any source of energy that it can and turns it into fat. Even when the diet is over, our body still thinks that it’s in starvation mode and starts storing all this excess food as excess fat in the fear that there could be another bout of starvation on the way. A less extreme diet that involves some permanent changes could prevent this.

Crash diets are depressing

Crash diets take the fun out of eating food. This isn’t just demotivating, it’s also scientifically shown to be bad for our mood. As this study on mice inScience Daily found, crash diets cause a reduction in dopamine levels. This is the neurotransmitter that leads to pleasure and reward. As a result, crash diets can make us depressed by not giving us this vital happy kick.

The occasional high-calorie treat is therefore needed to keep us happy. Rather than cutting out all bad foods, it’s much better to find a more stable balance that restores our dopamine levels. Nutritionists such as Heather Carey MS specialize in these balanced diets that allow you to still indulge in enjoyable foods whilst cutting calories. This way you’re getting the reward of eating whilst still losing weight.

Crash diets can be harmful to your immune system

On top of limiting fats, many crash diets also limit the digestion of important nutrients that are healthy for our body. The likes of vitamin A, vitamin B6, vitamin C, and zinc are all important nutrients that are needed to boost our immune system – many of us get these vitamins through eating foods like beef, shellfish, and eggs. Crash diets may not include these foods as they’re deemed unhealthy due to their high-fat content.

Having a more balanced diet could allow you to still get these healthy nutrients and keep your immune system high. It could also help to keep your organs healthy by giving them the nutrients they need.

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This is so true. I had a bad habit of doing this when I was younger. Instead of doing a crash diet, exercise more and use portion control. I know understand changing your lifestyle will give you better results.

I’ve tried crashed dieting in the past and thought it was great when I lost weight fast but like you said, I saw the yo-yo effect and gained back those pounds plus some more. I didn’t know that crash dieting improves our body’s ability to store fat. I now diet by having more veggies and fruits and cut back on carbs, plus gave up drinking sodas and drink water instead.

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About The Author

Hi, Welcome to Heartfully Heather! I am a wife and mother of two rambunctious boys living in Northern Colorado after our brief stay on the Western Slope. We are transplants from the beautiful mountain town of Flagstaff Arizona. While I grew up in the Phoenix area, I moved to Flagstaff when I went to college at NAUwhere Igot my degree in journalism. Now my days are fueled by coffee and early morning snuggles from my two boys while getting them off to school. Then my work day begins in blogging, freelance writing, web design, advertising, some VA services and more. I want to work with local businesses. If you found my blog, it wasn’t by accident. Shoot me an email and let’s work together!